


Yellow Wood

by nctzeno



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: ATEEZ - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, CLC, Day6 - Freeform, Laboum - Freeform, Loona - Freeform, M/M, Superheroes, a.c.e - Freeform, ace - Freeform, blackpink - Freeform, changlix, i'll add tags and characters as the story continues, kpop, minsung - Freeform, mlm, monsta x - Freeform, nct - Freeform, stray kids - Freeform, super hero AU, super heroes, super powers, twice, vav - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-06-27 03:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19782256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctzeno/pseuds/nctzeno
Summary: Lee Minho, a well-known superhero under Yellow Wood, has fought for justice for the past seven years. He does exactly what he's told, especially when his missions are against The Third Eye, the evil organization set on ending Yellow Wood. His world is turned upside down when he rescues a mysterious girl from The Third Eye, who is set on destroying anything and everything that gets the way of her objective.





	1. Question

**Author's Note:**

> i post an update every friday! 
> 
> questions, comments, or concerns? comment them down below or send them to curiouscat.me/wooyounqs!

The lightning that pierced through his skin simply felt like the brush of a feather, tickling at him like everything was a funny joke. He couldn’t move, but he wasn’t trapped. Words perched on his tongue but to his frustration they refused to move out of hiding, cowering in fear as the electricity traveled throughout his veins. 

He had always known that this moment would find him. It had been spying on him for years, and he’d always been able to evade it, running and hiding and searching for new hiding spots. Now that it was here, he accepted it with open arms and embraced the moment like it would slip away from him if he let go. 

The only thing he disliked about this situation was the fact that he couldn’t exactly _talk,_ for he had so many things he wanted to say. The man in front of him simply sat and watched, amused by the boy’s frustration. The man stood, walked closer. Thoughts ran through the boy’s head, racing around and around with nowhere to go, buzzing like a swarm of angry hornets looking for a target, hitting him like a thousand little pebbles all at once. 

And suddenly, it all stopped. 

The lightning went dark, stopped running around his skin, and he fell to the ground, his knees hitting the dirt hard enough to bruise. All the strength he had possessed not even seconds ago had dissipated. It took all he had in him to look up at the figure in front of him, who in response knelt down and placed his hand underneath the boy’s chin. 

“You did it,” he said softly. “You’re one of us.” 

* * * 

“Have you eaten breakfast this morning?” 

“Yeah, have you?”

“Working on it.” Jisung stood on his toes to get a cereal box from the top shelf of the pantry, grunting as he struggled to reach. He finally grabbed it and set it down while glaring at Minho, who was sitting on the opposite side of the counter. “You could have helped me.” 

“I’m one inch taller than you, I don’t know how I could have helped,” Minho replied, grinning. “You should get a stool.” 

“Or maybe we can move it down to a shorter shelf, wouldn’t _that_ be a good idea!” 

“You know we can’t, otherwise the cats would get into it again, and we can’t have that.”

As if Minho’s word was a command, the smallest jumped up onto the counter, sticking her nose into Jisung’s bowl as he poured the cereal. “Ahhh, Dori, come on!” Putting down the carton of milk, Jisung picked her up and plopped her on the floor, only for her to jump back up onto the counter and make her way over to Minho, weaseling her way into his arms. Petting her with one hand, Minho picked up his phone and began scrolling through notifications. 

“The power went out again last night,” he mentioned. “I fixed all the clocks, but it’s been getting more frequent. I’m thinking of calling someone to come look at it.”

Jisung looked up, nodding. “That would be good. Thanks for fixing the clocks.”

“No problem. Dori, _please_.” He placed the cat on the counter again, but she resisted, trying to push her way back into his arms. “Nooo, Dori, baby, I gotta go soon.” 

“Do you think you’ll get something interesting today?” Jisung asked, curiosity in his eyes. Minho melted every time Jisung gave him that look; it made him feel like he mattered, that someone cared about what he did.

“Man, I hope so. The others...they’ve been relentless recently.”

“How so?”

“Just last week we had a break in. We dealt with it easily, but it’s gotten annoying. I think the big boss is planning a retaliation.” 

“Oh, that ‘Bang’ guy? He’s a character.” 

Minho chuckled. “Sure is.” His phone dinged, and as he read the notification his heart dropped. “Ah, shit, sorry, I gotta go.”

“Work?”

“Yup. ‘M late.” Minho gently placed the small cat on the ground, who spitefully jumped back onto the counter. He picked up his bag from beside the couch, slinging it over his shoulder and giving Jisung a quick peck on the lips before grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and hurrying out the door, slipping on his shoes clumsily. 

He walked down to the bus stop that was only about a block away and sat down on the bench, pulling out his phone in the process. Several notifications flooded the screen, including missed calls from work. Sighing, he put the phone to his ear, waiting for his boss to pick up. 

“Lee! Where the hell are you? I expected you here twenty minutes ago!”

“I’m sorry, sir, I got held up this morning.”

“By _what_ , exactly?” 

Minho racked his brain for a believable excuse. Panicking, he said, “My cat is sick.”

“Oh, really? Well, that excuses everything! We _have_ to put the world on hold for your cat, because he matters most!” 

“She, actually, and...are you serious?” 

_“Serious,_ Lee, _serious?_ Lee, of course I’m not _serious._ Get over here immediately!”

“Yes, sir, I’m sorry.” 

The call ended abruptly with an angry beep, and Minho’s hand hit his bag as he let his head fall back, sighing deeply. 

On the bus, he settled in quickly, his bag on his lap. He subconsciously noticed that the bus was empty, so he had chosen the first seat. Five minutes later he felt his phone buzz in his bag, and he pulled it out, a frown on his face. It was his boss again. His frown deepened as he clicked “answer” and placed the phone to his ear. 

“Yes, sir?” 

“Lee, change of plans.” 

“I’m sorry?”

“You’ve been given an assignment. All details have been sent to your computer and the bus route has been alerted. Thank you.”

Again, the call ended with a beep, and Minho’s frown remained on his face as he pulled out his laptop. He was used to getting assignments, but almost never had he received one in public like this. Knowing it must be important, he wasted no time in going to his email to check what the keyword was. Reading it, he promptly stood up and went to the very back of the bus, sitting down in the empty aisle. 

“Roulette.” 

Immediately walls shot up around him, blocking him off from the rest of the bus. “I don’t understand why I have to do that if there’s no one on the bus with me,” he muttered as he opened his computer once more. He had two aisles to work with, so he placed the laptop on one of the seats in front of him, sitting across from it. He laid the computer to where the back of the screen was flat, then put his hand out and raised it up. A hologram of a building from the screen followed, growing larger as Minho’s hand rose. He stopped and sat back down, swiping and piecing through the image in front of him. After he found what he was looking for - a little red dot, blinking steadily - he tapped on it, which led to another image in front of him. 

Minho stood up but was instantly jostled back into his seat as the bus had hit a bump. He cursed under his breath before standing again, looking into the hologram. “Interesting.” His boss had chosen to send him somewhere more dangerous than usual, which he was now excited for. He hadn’t gotten good action in a while and needed something new. 

He clicked on a small icon towards the top of the image and read his instructions quickly before closing the laptop completely and stuffing it back into his bag. “Alright, Lee, let’s go.” He pushed a button on the outside of his bag, which in turn shrunk to the size of a small box the length of a fingernail. “I will never get over Bang’s use of Megamind technology, although he sure has surpassed it.” He chuckled and tucked the box into his pocket, then rolled up his sleeve, exposing the black watch on his wrist. Taking a deep breath, he pushed down on the clock, then held his breath. 

The fabric sprung out of the watch, crawling up his skin like tiny bugs. He hated the feeling, had never stopped hating the feeling over the seven years he wore the suit, but the result was always cool. His T-shirt and jeans vanished almost magically as the yellow and black fabric covered his entire body, enclosing him into a small black space. 

The small space opened up quickly, and soon his vision - and the extra vision provided by the suit - came back to him. He took a deep breath and cracked his neck. He hated the process but loved the result.

“Roulette.” 

The walls came up, and Minho walked through the bus, which now had one rider on it. He recognized her: she always walked her dog on the weekends. He didn’t quite understand _how,_ exactly, the woman was well over ninety, but he admired her for it. She always let him pet her dog, which he looked forward to every Saturday. 

“Hey,” he said softly as the bus came to a stop.

“Hello, young man,” she replied, a small smile on her face. “Off to save the world, are we?”

“Our part of it,” he replied, before high fiving the bus driver and swinging out the doors dramatically. He loved putting on a show, especially for the little old ladies. They always made him laugh. 

“Alright Mia, give me directions.” 

Immediately his route was mapped out in front of him, and he took off. The little yellow line in front of him twisted and turned through the city, and he zipped along so fast the people in the streets simply felt a small gust of wind as he passed. He was on the other side of the city in under four minutes, his breathing as steady as if he had just woken up from a satisfying nap. 

He looked up at the tall building in front of him, eyes wide. A large tree climbed up the side of it, snaking along the glass and into different windows.

“Lee!” 

Minho jumped and looked around, panicked that someone, for whatever reason, knew who he was. 

“Lee, you idiot, it’s Seo. You forget every time that we talk through the suits now.” 

“Oh shoot, right, I’m sorry.”

“Lucky it mutes our voice outside of it, or the entirety of the city would have to hear your screams.” 

“That sounds oddly threatening. Anyways, what do you need? I’m busy.” 

“Oh, me too! We’re on the same case. Bang wanted me to watch you.”

“Of course he did,” Minho muttered. Louder, he continued, “Sounds like fun, Seo, I’m so _incredibly_ excited.”

“Bet you are!” 

“Now please get off my ass and let me do my job. Survey all you want, but don’t butt in.” 

“Alrighty, Minnie.” 

“Don’t call me that. Mia, end call.” 

The call went down and Minho went back to taking in the building in front of him. 

On the eighth floor was a girl, tied up and hurt. His mission was to help her, get it done quickly and efficiently, without any casualties. This was a step above what he usually did, as he was used to simple robberies or _stopping_ kidnappings, but he had never rescued someone who had already been kidnapped before. 

What he needed now was a way in. He instantly locked his eyes on the enormous tree, envisioning how he could climb it and make his way in through one of the windows. He noticed that it only went up to the fifth floor, but he could make it farther up after getting in. 

Thankfully, the building seemed to be abandoned, but Minho didn’t want to risk there being any patrollers who were guarding the girl from getting rescued. He scaled up the tree in less than a millisecond, and as he perched on the branch, hidden by leaves, he mapped out his plan of attack. 

There were two guys on each floor going up, except for the eighth - where there were seven. He knew he needed to take out the guys on each floor below that, in case anyone called for backup, but he didn’t know how. “A distraction?” he muttered to himself as he climbed back down to a lower part of the tree. "Mia, launch rocket.” 

_“Set target location.”_

Minho locked his eyes onto a patch of ground not too far but not too close to the building. “Target location set.” 

_“Confirm target location.”_

“Target location confirmed. Launch.” 

A small rocket, no longer than the length of an arm, came shooting in mere seconds later. Minho didn’t know exactly where it came from; all he knew was that it helped him and that it caused big explosions without _too_ much damage. 

As he expected, the rocket planted itself exactly where he set the target to be, and the ground blew up into a pit of flames. In a less amount of time it takes to blink an eye, he was back at the top of the tree, waiting and watching. 

Soon, a flood of men, all wearing dark green, swarmed out of the building, all armed and ready to fire at any sudden movement. There were a lot more than Minho had been expecting, at least fifteen. Looking in, Minho was able to tell that the building only now had the seven original guys at the top, with only two in his way on the way up. He smiled to himself. This was too easy. 

He made his way in and ran to the elevator, which was around a few corners. He could tell the building used to be an office building: desks were strewn about and papers littered the area. He forced open the elevator doors and began climbing up the wires and sides of the walls; it was easy to do, and he had a lot of practice. 

He thought that, that is, until his hand slipped and he felt himself falling. He quickly caught himself, and breathing heavily, steadied himself fast on the wall. 

“You good there, Lee?” 

“Go away, Seo, I’m fine.” 

Continuing up the wall, he made sure to keep his grip strong. He was only two floors away now; he could hear the voices discussing the commotion outside. He jumped to the other side of the wall and using his suit’s enhanced vision, he looked around the floor he was currently on. There was one guy, and one on the floor above him. “Alright, Lee,” he whispered to himself. “Quickly and quietly.” 

He made his way over to the doors and pushed them open, slipping out of the elevator shaft and into the hallway. A man in a dark green suit stood near the windows, his back to Minho. Minho took a step forward and he was right behind the man. “Sorry, dude,” he said, and as the man turned to see who was talking to him, Minho simply clobbered the guy over the head with his fist, not hard enough to kill him, and the man was down on the ground, seemingly asleep. “Right.” Minho picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. “Where to put you?” 

He quickly noticed a closet along the hallway and made his way to it. “Here you go, buddy,” he said, and stuffed the unconscious body into the small space, closing the door on him. After making sure the door was blocked off by a few desks, he entered the elevator shaft once more and resumed climbing. 

The second guy was easier to take out, and Minho simply stashed him under a desk, piling several other desks on top of and around it. Back in the shaft, he prepped himself for the eighth floor. “Seven guys,” he muttered. 

“You talk to yourself a lot.” 

“Seo, I swear to God, please stop talking to me.” 

“Oops, sorry.”

Minho rolled his eyes before continuing climbing. He made it to the doors quickly, and sat on the wall for a second. “Seven guys, three around the girl, two near me, two watching the guys outside. Alright.” He pushed the door open and quickly took out the guys by the elevator; neither of them had a chance to react before they were on the ground. “Man, I wish I could turn invisible; Changbin really lucked out,” he said to himself before peaking around the corner, locating the girl and the other men. An idea dawned on him, and he smiled to himself. 

In less than a second, he zipped around the entire room, knocking each man (except one) on the head and piling him over his shoulder. Once every guy except for the one was out and on his shoulder, Minho stopped and stood in front of the man who was beside the girl. Minho dropped the men on the ground in front of him and took a step forward. 

“I’d recommend you put the gun down,” Minho said. 

“N-no! I don’t take orders from you!” 

Minho sighed. “Fine, suit yourself.” In a flash, he walked up to the guy and took his gun, then went back to where he was standing. The man’s jaw dropped, and Minho smiled. “You guys make it so easy for me. What’s your name?” 

“Why do you care?” 

Minho once again walked up to the guy in less than a second, going behind him and grabbing his arms, kicking his knees and forcing the man to the ground. “I asked you a question. What’s your name?” 

“Kim. Kim Seungmin.” 

“Alright, Kim Seungmin, what are you doing here with this girl? Who gave you orders?” 

“I don’t have to tell you.” 

“Yes, actually, you do.” Minho twisted Seungmin’s arm just a little bit, just enough to make him cry out in pain. “Don’t make me ask you again.” 

“I-I’m sorry, I just - I literally don’t know, we were just told to protect her!” 

Minho snorted and looked over at the girl who was watching, her eyes wide in shock. “Protect? You call this protecting? Protecting her from _what?_ I don’t believe you. If you were protecting her, why is she tied up?” 

“We were told that you... _lot_ had done something to her, and she was going to hurt her family. We had to save her. From herself.” 

“Bullshit.” 

“It’s not, I swear! I’m just telling you what I know!”

Minho kicked the guy in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. “Honestly, I think you’re either making this all up, or you truly don’t know anything else.” 

“I don’t, I don’t know anything else I swear, I’d tell you if I did, I promise,” Seungmin replied, his voice shaky. Minho leaned down and noticed the boy was crying, and instantly a wave of regret washed over him. 

“I believe you.” He walked away from Seungmin and helped untie the girl, who looked up at him, gratefulness in her eyes. “When I say so, hold onto me as tight as you can,” he said to her, then threw Seungmin’s gun across the room. He walked over to him and bent down. “You chose the wrong side, bud. I’m sorry. None of your guys are dead. They’ll all be awake in a few hours. Maybe a day or two. It always varies.” 

Seungmin’s only response was the sound of him trying to control his breathing, and Minho sighed before turning to the girl and holding out his hand. “Let’s go.” 

It had only been about eleven minutes since he first sent the rocket, and now guys were beginning to pour back into the building. Minho sighed. “You’re gonna have to hold on tight, and trust me. Don’t make a sound. You’ll be fine,” he said over his shoulder to the girl, who nodded in response. “Alright.” 

He walked over to the elevator, one arm holding on to the girl’s leg to help her stay steady, the other opening the doors. 

“W-wait! Please, please.” 

Minho turned to Seungmin, who was now on his knees, head down. “She’s dangerous. She’s dangerous, she’s dangerous. She’s dangerous. She’s dangerous, dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous, she’s dangerous. Dangerous.” 

“He’s lost it,” Minho said. Turning back to the elevator shaft, he took a deep breath. “Hold on tight.” With that, he jumped, and the girl let out a squeak but stayed surprisingly silent as they fell. He landed on top of the elevator, which was close to floor two, hard. “Shit, they probably heard that. It’s fine, stay calm.” The last sentence was directed toward the girl, but he needed to hear it as much as her in that moment. “Just stay calm.” 

He looked up, and the door to the second floor was right above him. “Hold tight,” he repeated, and lifted his arms up, easily pulling himself and the girl to the opening. Luckily, there weren’t any men on this floor yet. “Are you okay?” 

“Fine, I’m fine,” the girl responded. “Please just get me out of here.” 

“Working on it.” Minho looked around. They were alone on the floor, for now.

“Everything okay, Lee?” 

“Everything’s fine, Seo, I have it handled. You can go back, I’m just about to leave.” 

“I’ll leave when I see you leave.” 

“Whatever.” He walked over to the window and peered out. There were only three guys outside now, the rest presumably inside and looking for whoever attacked. They would be here any second. 

Sure enough, he heard voices coming from the stairwell on the other side of the floor. He looked outside once more and quickly located the big tree that scaled the side of the building. He ran over to it, the girl still clutching onto him as tight as she could. “You’re strong,” she whispered. 

“Thanks,” he replied. He pulled back his arm and quickly punched the glass, knocking a huge hole into it. It made a lot of noise, but now he had an exit point. “I know I’ve been saying this a lot, but hold tight.” 

“I know.” 

“Alright.” 

He backed up a tiny bit before running toward the hole, jumping and holding his arms out to catch himself on the branch that dangled right outside the window. He grabbed it and swung the two up onto it, setting the girl in front of him for a small second to check on her. “Are you okay? Hurt at all by that? Did you get cut by glass? Any bruising? Are you alright?” 

She gave him a small smile. “I’m okay, thank you. Can we get out of here?” 

“Promptly.” He turned so she could climb back onto him, and once she was wrapped around him like a small monkey, he climbed down the tree. 

“How will we get past them?” she asked, looking at the three men in green. 

“Easily” was his response, and he hopped onto the ground silently. “Like I’ve said a _million_ times now, hold tight.” And he took off, running slower than he usually would, but fast enough to simply be a blur to the guys standing out in front of the building. “Mia, tell me where to go,” he told his GPS, and it instantly laid the familiar yellow line in front of him, weaving through the city. He followed it until it came to an end at the big building he knew all too well. 

He stopped and let the girl clamber off his shoulders. She instantly fell to her knees, and he dropped down beside her, filled with worry. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” 

“That was insane,” she said, running her hand through her hair. “How do you _do_ that?” 

“I mean…” 

“No, I don’t mean literally, I mean...how do you do that every day? How are you not sick of it? I feel like I’m gonna throw up, oh god.” 

“That would be bad,” Minho said, offering his hand out to her. “Come on, let’s go inside.” She took it and he helped her stand, steadying her when she nearly fell. “You’re okay.” 

“Thanks,” she replied, and using his arm to keep her from falling, they began walking in. 

Inside, Minho rang Bang, who picked up instantly. 

“Was the mission successful, Lee?” 

“Yes, sir. I have her. Where do I take her?” 

“Bring her up to me.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Minho hung up. Now that he was inside, he pushed the small button and the suit went down to just his shoulders. He ran his hand through his hair to ruffle it up a bit before taking a deep breath. Turning to the girl, he offered out his arm again. “I’m gonna take you somewhere safe. Come with me.” 

“Okay.” 

Minho walked over to the elevator; from the looks of it the girl wasn’t in any shape to climb several flights of stairs at the moment. He pressed the button and waited, the girl still on his arm. It opened soon, and they entered. He secretly loved riding the elevator; it was glass, so you could see the entire building as you went up. It made him feel like he was flying. 

The way up was a lot faster than normal elevators, but it still took a second. Minho turned to the girl. “What’s your name?” he asked. When he got silence for an answer, he tried another question. “How old are you?” 

“Twenty-three.” 

Minho smiled. “You’re three years older than me.” 

“That’s cool.” 

Now that he had a chance to look at her, it really hit him how pretty this girl really was. Her features were delicate, and her long blond hair came down to her waist. She was a lot shorter than he was - almost half a foot, if he had to estimate. She looked up at him, and he smiled. 

“Why are you looking at me?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Just trying to figure out what kind of person you are.” 

“You think I’m pretty.” 

Minho nodded. “Yeah, I do, but not in _that_ way, if that’s what you’re thinking. I have a boyfriend.” 

“Oh, okay.” 

Minho chuckled and turned to watch the floors pass by as the elevator continued on its journey. It reached their destination soon enough, and Minho offered his arm out to the girl again. She took it and they stepped out of the elevator. He led her over to a room, greeting the few people that they passed on the way. 

When they got to the room, he knocked on the door. 

“Come in, Lee!” 

Minho opened the door and helped the girl inside. Bang was sitting in a chair reading something on a computer, but when he saw the two he stood up and made his way over. “You did it, Lee, good job. Are you okay?” 

The question was directed toward the girl, and she nodded. “Who are you?” 

“The name’s Bang. I know your name, so no need to introduce.” 

Minho so desperately wanted to know what her name was; he was simply curious, but he knew better than to ask Bang questions. In the whole time of knowing him, Bang had never even mentioned his first name. 

“Should I leave her with you?” Minho asked. 

Bang shook his head. “No, call up Yang, he’ll help her down to her apartment.” 

“Apartment?” The girl tilted her head in confusion. 

Bang smiled. “Yes, apartment. We have a whole lot of apartment buildings underneath this building here. I heard about your family, and what happened to your house, so I’m offering you a place here. Would you like one?” 

“How expensive is it?” 

“Not at all, completely free. We’ll discuss the details later. Right now you need to get cleaned up and looked at by our medical staff. Lee, have you called Yang yet?” 

“Oh, no, sorry sir. Will do now.” 

Minho stepped outside of the room, slightly frustrated. This girl and her story intrigued him, and he wanted to find out more. What had happened to her house? To her family? What did that Seungmin guy mean when he said they were protecting her from herself?

“Mia, call Yang Jeongin.” 

The boy on the other end picked up quickly. “Yes, Lee?” 

“Bang needs you up in his office.”

“Why?” 

“Need to show a girl to her new apartment.” 

“Oh, right, her. On my way.” 

Minho hung up and went back inside the room, where Bang and the girl were waiting silently. “Yang’s on his way.” 

“Good, thank you, Lee.” 

“No problem.” 

Yang showed up only a minute later, his signature grin on his face. “Good afternoon, Bang, Lee, Miss.” He offered out his arm to her. “When we get down there I’ll call medical staff. You seem pretty banged up.” 

“Just a little,” she said, chuckling, and accepted his arm. Before they left, she turned to Minho and touched his shoulder. “Thank you so much.” 

He placed his hand on hers and smiled. “Of course.”

Once the two had left, Bang turned to Minho. “You did excellent on this mission, Lee. I’m proud of you.” 

“Thank you, sir.” 

“Seo, anything to report?” 

“Excuse me?” Minho whispered, looking around. Changbin emerged, forming out of nothing, and Minho cursed under his breath. “Seo, you know that freaks me out.” 

“Sorry,” Changbin replied with a smile. Turning to Bang, he said, “Yes, sir. Lee here did not need help once. No one was killed, and he was in and out in under fifteen minutes. He interrogated one of the guards, which I wasn’t expecting - found out that they had supposedly been protecting this girl from something.” 

“Herself,” Minho butted in. “Protecting her from herself. He mentioned she was dangerous, but I think I may have kicked him in the head too hard. He was probably out of it.” 

“Noted,” Bang replied. “Regardless, I’m pleasantly surprised by your work today, Lee. If you like, you can go home early today, or you could patrol the city for any robberies or anything along those lines.” 

Minho thought about it for a second. He’d love to patrol the city, make Bang and the others even more proud, maybe even save a few people. But on the other hand, he missed time with Jisung, who he hated leaving home alone so often. He rarely saw him besides at night and early mornings. 

“I’ll think I’ll go home, sir, I need to help take care of my cat.”

“Right, the one that’s sick. Go on.” 

“Thank you, sir.”

Minho gave Bang and Seo each a nod before turning and exiting his office, a small smile on his face. He took the elevator down, then once he was out of the building, he ran as fast as he could home. He liked challenging how fast he could go, seeing if he could beat his time every journey home. The bus rides were for the morning, so he could wake up, relax on the way there, but the way home? The way home he _lived_ for. 

He arrived home in four seconds, a little slower than the day before. He laughed to himself as he clicked the mask away again, unlocking the door and walking inside. “Honey, I’m home earlier than expected!” 

He heard a quiet “oh shit” before a crash from the other room, and Minho frowned, a little concerned. “You okay, rose?” 

“Fine! I’m fine, welcome home! Gimme a sec.” 

“Okay, I have to change anyways.” 

Minho clicked his watch again and watched his suit crawl back into it, shuddering at the way it felt. As it got smaller, his shirt and jeans reappeared. He pulled the small box out of his pocket and clicked the button again, enlarging it into his bag once more. He put it down beside the shoe shelf and kicked off his shoes, which one of his cats instantly pounced on. He laughed softly and scooped her into his arms, petting her gently as she began purring. “Hello, Sooni,” he whispered, booping her on the nose. She responded by rubbing her head against his hand, asking for more pets. He kissed the top of her head before putting her down and walking throughout the house, greeting each cat before going to Jisung. 

Jisung sat in their bedroom, reading a book. He looked up at Minho and jumped off the bed, a big grin on his face, taking Minho’s hands in his. “You’re home!” He booped Minho’s nose, who frowned through a smile in response. 

“Am I a cat now?” Minho asked, before tapping Jisung’s nose in return. Jisung didn’t say anything, just kissed him and led him over to the bed, where they climbed in and lay in each other’s arms. “What was that crash I heard when I walked in?”

“Me being a clumsy dolt. How was your day?” Jisung asked. 

“Really good,” Minho replied. “I saved a girl from those green bastards.” 

“Oh my gosh, that’s awesome!” 

“You still say ‘gosh,’ you dork,” Minho said, poking Jisung in the side, who squawked and rolled over. 

“Shut up. But that’s so cool! Do you know who she was?”

“No clue. She seemed important though. Mysterious.” Minho sat up in bed and welcomed Dori into his lap, who had been waiting patiently for him to move. He pet her as the other two cats joined them. “The whole family’s here!” 

Jisung grinned. “Doongi and Dori had a fight earlier. Not...not an actual fight but it was so cute watching them tumble around.” 

Minho laughed. “Doongi, you troublemaker.” He let out a sigh of content, looking around. Jisung was lying with Doongi and Sooni on his stomach, and Dori was in Minho’s lap. This was his happy place. His home. 

“This is all I’ve ever wanted,” he said softly, petting the kitten. 

“I think I hear your phone ringing,” Jisung said, and Minho groaned. 

“Goddammit. I’ll be right back, Dori, wait for me.” He placed her by Jisung and stood up, going to retrieve his bag. He fished his phone out of one of the pockets, and when he saw who it was, he groaned even louder before answering. 

“Yes, sir?” 

“Lee, I’m sorry to interrupt your time with your cat, but I need you here.” 

“I’m sorry?” 

“You heard me. Something big has come up. That girl…” 

“What happened?” 

“Get here, now.” 

_“Bang,_ with all due respect, tell me what happened or I’m inclined to just stay home and let someone else deal with it.” 

“Lee, I know you did not just say that to me.” 

Minho rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yes, sir, I’m sorry.” 

“Anyways, something happened with the girl. Maybe those emerald bitches were right for once in their lives.” 

Minho raised an eyebrow. If Bang was cursing, something was up. “Yes, sir, on the way.” 

“Good.” 

The phone call ended in another angry beep, and Minho placed his phone back in his bag and went into the bedroom again. 

“Is it work again?” Jisung asked, looking up at him from the bed. 

“Yeah, rose, I’m so sorry. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” 

Jisung sat up on the bed and leaned forward, and Minho gave him the kiss he was asking for. “Be safe, lilac.” 

“I will.” 

Minho grabbed his bag and left the house, both excited at the possibility of danger and frustrated that he couldn’t spend more time with Jisung. 

“Alright, let’s get this shit over with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first skz au !! let me know what you think!!!! please tell me anything and everything :D leave kudos and a comment if u enjoyed <33
> 
> QUESTION: who do you think this mysterious girl is? let me know your thoughts!


	2. Glow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something has happened with the girl that minho rescued, and now he must save not only the building, but her as well.

Minho made it to the building in 3.2 seconds, but he didn’t have any time to celebrate the record speed. Immediately he entered the large building, taking in the surroundings. People were screaming, running towards the exit, and Minho noticed that even with his temperature-controlling suit it was abnormally  _ hot.  _ He looked around for the other Fighters, who he quickly found gathered together in the middle of the room, all talking to each other, and he was there in half a second. “What’s going on?” 

Changbin pointed towards the food court area of the building, and suddenly Minho saw why it was so hot. What usually was a whole floor filled with food bars, tables, and people were now several pillars of flame, climbing higher and reaching the upper floors. He noticed Wooyoung and San, the two Water Fighters, flying together, fighting to keep the flames at bay, but he knew that they couldn’t do it all by themselves. 

“How long have Jung and Choi been up there?”

“Since the girl exploded. So like, three minutes ago.” 

Minho tilted his head. “This whole thing happened in under three minutes?” 

A girl spoke up, and Minho’s suit identified her as Jennie Kim. “Yeah, the girl just...exploded into flames. She’s in there somewhere, blocking herself off. Our theory so far is that if we stop her, we can figure out a way to stop the flames.”

“Yeah,” Changbin jumped in. “And Ahn and I would teleport in, but we can’t see exactly where we need to go. Last time either of us tried going somewhere without a clear, visual target we both got very hurt.”

Minho nodded. “Who’s been evacuated?” he asked, looking around for any other people who hadn’t escaped. “Where are the other Fighters?”

“Everyone’s been evacuated,” another girl, Sorn, spoke up. “And the two Ice and two Fire are still on their mission, and the other three are helping people outside. Bang is nowhere to be found.” 

Minho nodded, hiding his frustration at the fact that the four most helpful and important elementals were not available, as well as the confusion on the whereabouts of Bang. He turned to the girl beside him. “Jang, as soon as the three get back inside, tell them to start working to put out the fire, any way that they can. You’re the other Strength Fighter, so you work to clear debris. Make sure that no one is trapped under anything, and if there are then get them out as fast as you can.”

“Yes, Lee.” 

“Seo, Ahn, I need you two up high. You need to be able to see everything, so you can teleport to an exact location if anyone needs help. You are there to help with anything. Everyone, use Mia to call either Seo or Ahn, or both if necessary. They are here for you. They will be busy.” 

A chorus of “Yes, Lee”s followed and Minho looked around at the group, seeing who was left. “Sajakul, is Jeon outside?” 

“Yeah, she is,” Sorn replied. “She already has a force field up.” 

“Good. Go out with her, make sure no one’s hurt. If they are, heal who is, then come back inside. We may need you in here.” As soon as she left, Minho turned back to Jennie, who was the only one without a task. “Kim, since your skin is bulletproof, I need you here helping with cleared debris. I’m assuming Yoon is outside, so once he gets back he’ll help you.” 

“Yes, Lee.” 

Things were happening so fast that Minho barely could get a grasp of it himself. He took a deep breath before addressing the group again. “Alright, everybody get to it! I’m going to try to stop this girl, calm her down. Don’t worry about me unless I call for help.” The Fighters scattered and Minho faced the wall of fire in front of him, which was growing by the second. “Good thing this damn suit is fireproof.” 

The next second he was in the flames, looking around for the girl. It licked at his suit, the heat painful but the technology in his suit blocked out most of it. Its enhanced vision blocked out the fire, giving him detailed outlines of objects around him. He cleared the wreckage as he walked; large fallen pillars and burning furniture littered the pathway. The girl wasn’t hard to find: she was in the center of the room, head in her hands and rocking back and forth. He looked around for a quicker way to exit the furnace they were in, but all he could find was the path he had created.

As he got closer, she looked up, raising her hands up. Minho put his up as well to show that he wasn’t going to do anything, slowing down but still advancing.

“Get away from me!” she screamed, jumping up to her feet, and Minho raised his arms higher. 

“I can’t do that!” he shouted back. “End this! Let’s talk about this civilly!”

“No! I don’t want to talk to anybody!” The girl raised her arms up above her head and a ball of fire started forming, growing bigger and bigger. It hovered above her, pulsing. She shot her hands forward and Minho ducked as fast as he could, avoiding the blast; the explosion behind him was almost deafening, tables and other debris being scattered every which way. 

“Mia, call Bang,” he said quietly. 

_ “Bang is unavailable.”  _

“What the hell,” he muttered. He continued walking closer to the girl, his arms still raised. “At least tell me your name!” he yelled, but the girl shook her head frantically and raised her hands as if to send another fireball his way. “Don’t, don’t! Don’t throw it! Listen, what is that you want? What happened? I can help you!” He was close enough now for her to hear without any shouting, but not enough to touch her. 

“Like hell you can,” she replied, her voice shaking. “You need to pay. You all need to pay.” He could see tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she wiped them away angrily before rolling a ball of fire in her hands, almost as if she was playing with it. “You all need to pay.”

“Pay for  _ what?”  _ Minho asked. “What have we done to you?” 

“You took away my life, my family, my house. If it weren’t for goddamn  _ Yellow Wood  _ my family would still be alive right now!” The ball of fire in her hands suddenly grew from the size of a baseball to abnormally large exercise ball, which in turn began hurtling Minho’s way. He ducked again, eyes wide as he stood back up.

Her words hit him, and he frowned and stopped walking. “Yellow Wood is good,” he said. “We protect people, not  _ harm _ them. The Third Eye is the ones who hurt people. Please, trust me. The Third Eye is the ones who would do something to hurt you.” 

The girl chuckled, shaking her head with a twisted smile and collapsing to her knees. Minho dashed over to her, putting her hand on her back, half expecting her to fight back. She instead leaned into his touch and looked up at him, tears brimming, the almost creepy smile still there. “No, I  _ am _ right. You...you’re wrong. Yellow Wood deserves to pay.” 

Minho didn’t understand what on _earth_ she was talking about, but what he did understand was that he had to get her out of there as fast as he could, and hopefully in the process put out all the flames. “Can you put out the fire?” he asked.

“No.” She continued staring into his eyes, not blinking once. She then looked away, her hair falling into her face, and began mumbling something softly, and Minho couldn’t make it out. She slowly got louder and louder, her words becoming clearer as she continued speaking. “Please help me, please help me, please help me, please help me, please….” Her voice trailed off once more but she kept repeating the phrase over and over again under her breath, and Minho just nodded and put his arms around her, picking her up like he had when he first rescued her from The Third Eye. She clung tightly to him, crying harder as he carried her. She was soon racked with tears, almost shaking Minho. As he emerged from the flames, the other Fighters rushed to him, offering their help.

“I’m fine, she’s fine. Get Sorn to me, now, please. Continue working to put out the fire.” 

He laid the girl down, who was still sobbing, her body shaking so hard it was almost like she was having a seizure. Sorn showed up a minute later, dropping to the girl’s side. “Is she hurt?” Minho asked her, who in turn placed her hand on the girl’s head. 

“No,” Sorn replied. “Something’s...not right - mentally. I can’t place it though. Usually, I just put my hand on the person and instantly know exactly what’s wrong but there’s a...there’s a mental block of some sort. Nothing physically wrong, though. I...” 

She drew her arm back sharply, letting out a scream and holding her hand close to her body, shaking her head quickly. Minho looked up and placed his hand on her shoulder, frown filled with concern. “What happened?” he asked frantically. “Sorn!”

Sorn looked up at him and her mask went away, revealing her face and letting her hair fall forward. A panicked expression rested on her face as she turned from Minho and looked back down at the girl, who was now seemingly unconscious. “She...she said something to me…something about evil in Yellow Wood. It was so loud...Minho it was so loud, she was in my  _ head,  _ Minho. Minho, oh my god Minho, what do you think she means?” Sorn was nearly shouting now, and Minho rubbed her arm, shaking his head.

“I...I’m not sure. Did she hurt you?” 

Sorn nodded slowly, trembling slightly. Minho stood up, waving Changbin over. 

“Hey, I need you to take Sajakul somewhere quiet, away from all of this.” He turned to Sorn, who in turn glanced at Changbin and then at Minho, still holding her hand to her chest. “She’ll be okay.” 

Changbin nodded and offered his arm out to Sorn. She took it with a grateful expression and he helped her out of the room, leaving Minho and the strange girl alone. 

Minho dropped down to the girl again, tilting his head as he looked at her. “What do you want to tell us so badly?” he whispered. 

\- - - 

Bang showed up quickly after the rubble had been cleared. He offered no explanation on where he was, and no one dared ask him. He directed clean-up and immediately began the restoration of the building. Minho followed his directions without a word of protest, but deep down he wanted to get away, go find wherever Bang had the girl taken and talk to her, figure out what the hell she had been talking about. 

With the help from all eleven Fighters, as well as the employees of the building, they had everything fixed up within three hours. The food court wasn’t quite rebuilt, but all the debris had been cleaned up and blatant safety issues had been resolved. Minho sat down on one of the benches near the entrance, mask off to take a few deep breaths. Something wasn’t right. A second later Changbin sat next to him, mask also off. He looked at Minho, who gave him an attempted smile before turning and looking back at the ground. 

“What’s up?” Changbin asked, concern in his eyes. “You haven’t been yourself since the girl was taken away.” 

“I don’t know,” Minho said, sitting up and letting his head touch the glass behind him. “This whole situation is just so weird to me.” Changbin nodded and Minho let out a deep breath before standing up, putting his hands on his hips. “I’m gonna go find her,” he said. “I’m gonna do it.” 

“What? Why?” Changbin stood up too.

Minho shrugged, smiling. “Do you wanna come with?” 

Changbin tilted his head, a grin coming over his face. “You bet I do.”

Minho turned around and began walking, expecting Changbin to follow. “Mia, call Seo.” 

_ “Seo is within ten feet of you. Would you still like to call him?” _

“Yes.” The line connected and Minho smirked as he continued walking. “You coming, Seo?” 

“Why are you calling me,  _ Lee?”  _ Changbin taunted back, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I’m right next to you.” 

“Dummy, they can’t hear us talking when our lines are up, remember? You were very adamant about that when you called me on the mission this morning.” 

Changbin chuckled. “Right. Well, I’m, as you can probably tell, invisible. So that we don’t look suspicious.” 

“Suspicious? What would we be suspicious of?” 

“Exactly!”

A few moments of calm silence passed between the two before Minho spoke again. “We should split up. You go to the Records Room, do as much research as possible to see if you can uncover what the girl was talking about. See if you can find her name, identity, what happened to her family and her house, things like that. She kept telling me Yellow Wood is evil, so try to find anything that may confirm her claims in any way.” 

“And where will you go?” 

“Bang’s office.”

Minho felt Changbin stop walking, who then became visible again. “You’re not serious.” 

“I am.” 

“No,” Changbin said. “If anything I should go, I can turn fucking  _ invisible,  _ dude.” 

Minho shook his head. “Nope. I’ll be in and out a lot faster. And he has all the cameras and screens in his office. And  _ those _ most likely caught where they took the girl. Once I have any information, I’ll call you.” 

“I still think you’re wrong,” Changbin grumbled, but reluctantly agreed, clicking his mask on and vanishing once more, leaving Minho alone. 

He entered the elevator a moment later, pushing the button to go to the top floor. The elevator stopped on the second floor, however, opening to let someone in. Minho couldn’t see the guy’s face - a stack of papers was in his arms, large enough to come above his nose. The boy waddled in, trying not to drop any papers, before bending down in an attempt to push the button for the floor he needed to go to. 

“Here, I got it,” Minho said, stepping forward. “Which floor?” 

“Sixteen,” the boy responded, and Minho pressed the corresponding number before stepping back. 

“Do you need any help?” he asked, and the boy shook his head. Minho’s eyes widened. “Hey, I know you. You were the one who brought the girl down to the living quarters earlier...Yang, right?” 

The boy gave a big grin above the pile of papers. “Yeah, that’s...that’s me. M-my first name is Jeongin.” 

Minho gave him a warm smile, nodding. “Nice to meet you, Jeongin. Are you sure you don’t need any help? I’d be happy to lend a hand.” 

Jeongin wrapped one arm the paper stack and used his other hand to push up his glasses before readjusting his grip on the pile, then shook his head once more. “Th-thank you, but I got it.” A second later the elevator dinged, and Jeongin stepped off. Minho gave him a small bow and the boy moved to bow in return, but as he did so the papers in his arms went flying every which way, resulting in a yelp from Jeongin and an “oh gosh” from Minho. Minho jumped out of the elevator before the doors shut and instantly started helping him, putting the papers in a neat stack once again. 

“Oh dear god, Bang is going to kill me,” Jeongin muttered, pushing up his glasses again and running his hands through his hair before scrambling to bring all the papers together.

Minho placed the pile down in front of Jeongin and moved to pick up the ones he missed, passing them to the younger boy. “He won’t, it’ll be okay. He’s not as scary as you first think. I’ve known him for a while now, and I promise deep down he’s a big teddy bear. Get on his good side and you’ll be fine, I promise.” 

Jeongin gave him a thankful look before gathering up the rest of the mess and putting it back into his arms. This time he let Minho take half of it, and Minho followed the boy down the hallway and into a room, where Bang and a few others sat at a large table. 

“Why is there a Fighter in here?” Bang asked, placing down the pen in his hand and standing up slowly.

“Good evening, Bang.” Minho bowed. “No need to start anything, I’m on my way out,” he said, placing the papers on the table. “Just wanted to offer a hand to Yang.”

Bang waved him off and Minho bowed to Jeongin, who this time gave a  _ successful _ bow in return. Minho gave him a small pat on the back before exiting the room, closing the door behind him. 

Instead of continuing back to the elevator, however, he stuck by the door. “Mia, turn on Advanced Hearing,” he whispered, and then he could hear the conversations in the room. 

“Hold on,” he heard, but he couldn’t place the voice. “Something’s wrong.” 

He only caught a few more words before suddenly turning Advanced Hearing off and walking away to the elevator, stepping inside and pressing the button to go to the bottom floor. 

Once the elevators doors opened he stepped out, and he walked out of the building and began the journey home, stepping over bits of trash that were on the ground here and there. It took him about thirty minutes, but soon he was at his house and inside. Jisung wasn’t there, but he didn’t even notice as he walked into his room and climbed into his bed, burying himself in the covers and closing his eyes, two cats on top of him as he lay there in silence. 

\- - - 

The next morning he was awoken by Jisung, who sat on the edge of the bed, putting on his shoes. Minho sat up slowly and a pang of pain hit his head as hard as a hammer, and he groaned, placing his hand against his forehead. 

“Look who’s up,” Jisung said, eyes wide. “You slept for at least fourteen hours last night, babe. I got home shortly after you did, and you’ve been asleep ever since.” 

Minho frowned, rubbing his temples. “Was I really? What time is it?” 

Jisung looked at his phone. “Ten thirty. In the morning. Why did you get home at seven yesterday? You’re usually back after nine.” 

Minho just took a deep breath and sighed. This wasn’t the first time that this had happened. “Not sure,” he said. “I must have been so tired last night that I don’t even remember coming home.” 

Jisung tilted his head, leaning forward and placing a hand on Minho’s forehead. “Well, you don’t have a fever, so at least you’re not sick. What happened at work yesterday? I saw on the news that there was a fire.” 

“May I get some water?” Minho asked, and Jisung nodded, helping Minho off of the bed. He staggered a bit but Jisung grabbed his arm, helping to steady him. 

“Your head really does hurt, doesn’t it,” Jisung said softly, leading him to the kitchen counter and helping him up onto a stool. “I’ll pour you some water and get you some ibuprofen, give me a second.” Minho sat with his head in his hands, elbows resting on the counter as Jisung poured a glass of water. He slid it over to him before going to retrieve the headache medicine from the bathroom cabinet. Minho gladly took the water and drank some of it, rubbing his head again. No matter how hard he tried to think about the events after around 6:30 PM, nothing came back to him. One second he was outside the office with Bang and Yang and all the other people inside, and the next it was a new day, and he was home with a massive headache and a worried boyfriend who would do anything to protect him. 

“Here’s two pills,” Jisung said, and Minho looked up, gratefully taking the medicine and swallowing it down with water. Jisung rubbed Minho’s back comfortingly, worry evident in his eyes. 

Minho looked up to him and thanked him again before shivering greatly. “‘M so cold,” he muttered. “Can...can you please help me to the couch, rose?” 

Jisung happily did, and ran off without a word after Minho sunk into the pillows. He was confused for only a moment before Jisung came running back, a blanket and kitten in hand. He set Dori on the couch, who curled into a donut, then laid the blanket over Minho. He then grabbed the small cat and putting her in his lap. Minho smiled up at him and began to pet the cat, who cuddled into his lap, purring loudly, and Jisung sat on the couch next to him, wrapping his arms around Minho, petting his hair slowly in an effort to help calm him. 

“Don’t you have to go to work?” Minho asked, his voice quiet. 

“No, not now that you’re sick,” Jisung said, fingers running through Minho’s hair. 

“Babe, please,” Minho whined. “I’m not sick.” 

“Lilac, you’re sick. How many times has this happened before?” 

Minho groaned. “Countless.” 

“Exactly, and -”

“And I’m  _ always _ better within two hours! Every time, rose. Every time. I promise I’ll be okay.” 

Jisung sighed. “I  _ know  _ that, but I’m not leaving you alone feeling like this. I know you’ll be fine but I don’t want you feeling so miserable all by yourself.” 

Minho didn’t respond; he just leaned into Jisung’s touch and closed his eyes, head hurting like someone was smashing into it with spiked bricks, taunting him because he couldn’t get up to go to work. He didn’t even want to think about calling Bang at the moment, but he knew Jisung wouldn’t let him. Instead, he just lay in his boyfriend’s arms, angry at the world but also content, because he was in  _ his _ world’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHTY folks how was that? and an update on TIME? woah look at me go 
> 
> question: what do you think happened to minho?? why did he just go home???? 
> 
> also, any clues on who the mystery girl is?


End file.
